EU states to miss pollutant targets - EEA

05 December 2007 16:35  [Source: ICIS news]

By Philippa Jones

 

PARIS (ICIS news)--The majority of EU member states will miss legally-binding targets for four important pollutants, the European Environment Agency (EEA) said on Wednesday.

 

All member states agreed to reduce emissions of sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs), and ammonia (NH3) by 2010.

 

However, the EEA said in a report that only 11 countries were expected to meet the national deadlines defined in the EU National Emission Ceilings (NEC) Directive.

 

The 11 are Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Slovak Republic and the UK.

 

Thirteen member states are projected to miss targets for at least one of the four pollutants – though 7 of them were considering “additional” actions in order to meet the 2010 targets, said the EEA.

 

The ceiling for NOx is the most challenging for countries to meet, according to the report, with 11 member states indicating that, without taking additional measures, they will not reach their ceilings by 2010.

 

The projected NOx emissions for the EU-25 by 2010 are 8 % above the aggregated ceiling.

 

Efforts to reduce NMVOC emissions have been more successful, with only four member states - Spain, Hungary, Denmark and Portugal – likely to miss their targets.

 

NMVOC projections for the EU-25 as a whole are 5 % below the aggregated ceiling.

 

Only two countries - Malta and the Netherlands - did not expect to meet their SO2 ceilings by 2010.  The EU-25 as a whole is projected to be 39 % below the aggregate SO2 ceiling.

 

The NH3 projections for the EU-25 are 7 % below the aggregated EU emission ceiling target and 17 member states have already reduced ammonia emissions below their respective ceilings. Only Germany and Spain are expected to miss their 2010 targets.

By: Philippa Jones
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